West Bridge Journals

A Floating Head and Hog Ribs

The first clue that something was going on, was the five or six sheriff cars going down to the Suwannee River Camp Sites. Now normally I’m not an ambulance chaser, but with BJ’s urging, my curiosity got the best of me, and off we went. The campsite is laid out in horizontal roads, and we picked one not knowing where the deputies went. About half way down we came up on a deputy standing by his car. We ask him what was going on, and he said that he was guarding a gravesite. He said that they had dug down and found a hand. I ask him, “How did they know to look there”. He said that a man on the next road told them about it.

What had happen, two men fishing down near the state park had found a head floating in the river, and had hung up in some brush. They reported it and the search was on for the rest of the body. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office remembered a call that they had received a couple of days earlier, when one of neighbors had call them and reported see a man dragging what look like a body through the wood in the campsite. They had come out and investigated but found nothing then. After learning of the head that was found floating in the river, they sent another deputy out to ask questions. In the end they talked to David, and he told them, that while walking his dog over on the next road, his dog started digging in what looked like a fresh dug grave.

After learning all this we drove on around to a guy named David’s house. He lived next door to Jeff. When we got there, the place was swarming with deputies and FDLE officers. They were searching Jeff’s house. David was sitting on his steps just watching. Barbara knew one of the FDLE guys, (Bobby), and ask him what had happen, and he said they were investigating a possible homicide. We walk over to talk to David and learned that they suspected Larry, (Jeff’s half brother), of murder. He told us about his walk with the dog, also that he had taken Larry to the bus station that morning. Then after talking about the body for a while, he said that he had killed a hog the day before and wanted to give me a rack of ribs. I didn’t think anything about it and said “great”, and took them. I put them in the car and call BJ, who had walk back over to talk with Bobby, and we left. BJ ask what had David had given me and I said, “Hog ribs”. I have never seen anyone turn green before, but my lovely wife did just then. She said “WHAT”. I said, “Hog ribs”. She said, “Stop the car and throw them out”, “for all we know he may have cut up that body, and was trying to get rid of it by getting us to cook it”. “Barb, its hog ribs”. “YOU DON’T KNOW THAT!” “You are not bringing that into my house”. So I stop the car and got rid of the ribs.

We learned later that Larry, who had escaped from prison in Alabama, pick up a hitchhiker and brought him to his brother’s house. He later killed him for the 20 dollars he had on him, with Jeff’s rifle. He dug a grave and buried him. Jeff got worried that if they find him, they could trace the bullet in his head to his gun, so he went and dug him up and cut off his head and threw it into the river. They are both in prison.